The First Slytherin
by Angelique Moonlight
Summary: Juniper Breeze comes from a long line of Gryffindors, everyone in her family for generations has been in Gryffindor, but Juniper does not feel very Gryffindor-like... Set in the Harry Potter realm, with the minor exception that this story does not contain He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named nor anything that he represents (so it's like he never existed.)
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: This is my second fan fiction that has come into fruition... again, it's a Draco Malfoy one... I seem to have a thing for the bad boys (but what girl can resist Draco?) This chapter is purely setting up the characters, but I promise you, it does get better as I go along... so please, anyone who reads this, feel free to review (I'm always up for good advice on how to better my writing.) I will try my best to update as often as I can with my limited internet connection and my two small children driving me insane. Enjoy!

Chapter One: The Dreaded Letter

The day I received my acceptance letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was not a very good day for me at all. It came by the way of an owl, like normal for us witches and wizards. There were actually two letters that came that day, one for me and one for my brother. I really did not want a letter from Hogwarts though. See, I have been dreading going there. I have a lot to live up to at that school. So I have been trying to get out of going for weeks, but to no avail.

"Please mother, just let me go somewhere else. Ship me off to Beauxbatons. I don't care where I go to school at, as long as it's not Hogwarts." I begged and pleaded. I would have dropped down to my knees for added affect if I believed that it would have helped.

"Juniper Snowdrop Breeze!" She loved using my full name to show her disappointment in me. "Hogwarts is the best school there is for our kind. How come you cannot be more like your brother and be excited to go?" My mother inquired.

I rolled my eyes at her in disgust. I hated being compared to my brother, my twin to be exact. Anyone who says that twins are close, have obviously never met the two of us. We are fraternal twins and complete polar opposites. The only thing we have in common is that we are both four feet three inches tall.

My brother has bright blonde hair like our parents, green eyes like our mother and he's a bit of a goody-goody. He's our mother's favorite because he does everything she asks. He is older than me by a whole five minutes which he brags about constantly and he has also never been in trouble, ever.

I on the other hand, have raven black hair which I inherited from some distant relative, steel gray eyes like our father and I'm a bit of a trouble maker. I'm also a daddy's girl, which is okay because I prefer his rules over my mother's.

I walked away from my mother without answering her and I headed out to the backyard where I knew my father would be. He and I had a small vegetable garden growing out there. I knew he would be working in it like he does every morning. I sighed exaggeratedly, knowing that it would get my father's attention.

He stopped digging up the potatoes and looked up at me. "Is something the matter Juni?" He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his arm.

"Just mother being mother. 'Juniper Snowdrop Breeze, be more like your brother. Edelweiss Ash Breeze is a much better child than you are.' Blah, blah, blah, so on and so forth." I smiled after poorly imitating my mother.

My father chuckled and motioned for me to sit with him. "I'm fairly certain she didn't say that your brother is a better child than you."

"She might as well have said it. We both know she feels that way." I said as I plopped down on the ground.

"She just doesn't understand you, that's all." He sighed, "You're a free spirit Juni, you question everything, you have to have all the facts before making a decision and that's not a bad thing. Del just takes orders better and there's nothing wrong with that either. Some people were born to be followers, like Del, while others were born to be leaders, like you. That's just how the world works. Don't worry about your mother. She'll come to realize it on her own terms." He hugged me gently.

I grumbled. I knew my father was right, he always was. "It's just that I wish that she would realize it now. I hate being compared to Del, like he's the complete idea child, while I'm the mistake… and I really, really, really don't want to go to Hogwarts."

My father smiled a little too knowingly, "You'll do fine there Juni, just be yourself and don't worry about what house you get placed in. I will love you no matter what, just go with the flow and follow most of the rules, that's all that matters. Now go get cleaned up, we'll be heading to Diagon Alley soon to get school things for you and your brother."

I knew I lost the battle of which school I was going to. When my father says that something is final, then it is final. I got up off the ground and went inside to change. I walked past my mother and went up the stairs to my room. I did not want to change, I did not want to go to get supplies for school, all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and sleep the years away, but I couldn't do that, so I decided to dress up like I would on normal days.

I put on a pair of holy black leggings, a neon green tulle skirt, a black long sleeve shirt, a neon green flower choker and black knee high Converse shoes. I braided my hair with a neon green ribbon to add some color to it. My mother hates that neon green is my favorite color instead of red or some variation of it, which is why I wear it when I want to make her angry at me.

As I was walking out of my room, my brother stopped me. He was wearing crimson, like always. I hated all reds and seeing him in it made me want to punch him in the face. My mother would have a fit if I did though, me, the problem child, hitting her precious baby boy. It made me sick to my stomach to think about it.

"What do you want Del?" I was furious with him.

He sneered, "I was sent up here by mother to make sure you were ready to go." He stared at my clothes with obvious disgust. "You are not honestly wearing that are you? It is an awful outfit… mother will want you to put on your vacation outfit, like I did."

I pulled back my left fist and punched my brother hard in his chest. "I don't give a damn what she wants me to wear… I'm wearing this. I can't stand wearing red."

I officially hated him more now. I walked around my brother and walked downstairs. My mother glared at me when she saw me and that made me smile a little. It made me smile even more when my father walked into the living room wearing black dress slacks, a black button up dress shirt and an emerald green tie. If anyone did not know based off of attitude which twin took after which parent, the clothing and color choices would make it a dead giveaway.

"Heath, honestly… and it is no wonder she refuses to wear red, you encourage her color choice." My mother complained very loudly.

He smiled at me, "Of course I do. I encourage her to make all of her choices, her own choices. I don't see why it's such an issue for her to wear green. Anyway, I think it looks good on her."

She stared at my father in disbelief, grabbed my brother's hand when he finally came down the stairs and apparated without saying a word to either of us.

"Well, it's a good thing that your mother and I can both get into our vault at Gringotts. I'm going to guess that she's not going to want to go shopping with the two of us looking the way we do, since you know, we look very un-Gryffindor like."

I laughed and took my father's hand, waiting to apparate.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: This chapter is about shopping for school. Not much really too it, just more in-depth of the relationship between Juni and her father, Heath (and she gets a mysterious ancient key from the family vault.) Please review and enjoy!

Chapter Two: Shopping in Diagon Alley

With a loud crack, Juni and her father appeared inside a small pub called The Leaky Cauldron. The pub was full of all sorts of different witches and wizards, some of them were very strange looking. Juni glanced around, felt frightened and gripped her father's hand tighter.

"Don't worry Juni." Her father smiled down at her. "I promise that I will not let anything bad happen to you. Besides, I'm sure that most of the people here know what it's like to be going to Diagon Alley to buy supplies for their first year at school."

She smiled up at her father, "Tell me more about Hogwarts and the houses please father? I might as well prepare myself for the upcoming year with more knowledge about it all."

The two of them walked out to the courtyard while her father rambled on about Hogwarts. He paused long enough to tell her how to get into Diagon Alley and then resumed his rambling. "Now, the main part I know you want to hear about is the houses, right Juni?"

She nodded vigorously as she looked at all the stores around her while they walked. "Yes father, I want to know about the houses the most. I would like to try and figure out where I may end up being sorted to."

"Well first there's Gryffindor. Your mother and I were in Gryffindor. All of our family has been in Gryffindor, both on your mother's side of the family as well as my side of the family. The typical trait for them would be bravery. Secondly, there's Hufflepuff and their trait is loyalty. I had a few friends there, very nice guys, never argued with me. Thirdly, there's Ravenclaw and they typically are keen to learn. My favorite study partner was from Ravenclaw. And lastly, there's Slytherin, who are very cunning people. My best friend was in Slytherin. " He patted her shoulder as she walked in the first set of doors to Gringotts.

They walked up to the front desk and her father requested to go to their vault. Juni tried very hard to pay attention to every turn they made, but it was too hard. After the tenth turn, she had completely lost which way they had come from. She decided instead to just watch ahead and try to guess which way they were going to go. Her father chatted with the goblin guiding them as if they were old friends and knowing her father, they probably were.

The cart stopped in front of vault seven hundred and sixty seven. Everyone got out of the cart, Juni watched the goblin very closely as he opened the door. When the door opened, the goblin stepped back and Juni gasped when she looked inside.

The vault was huge and it was filled with all sorts of stuff that Juni had never seen before. She walked in with her father. She looked around at everything. There were some very old looking things in the vault that she found very interesting. She found a long silver chain with a small ancient looking key on it; she picked it up and turned the key over in her hand a couple of times.

"I'm not sure where or what that key goes to. The thing has been handed down for many generations. Do you like it?" He asked and she nodded meekly. "Well then, you can have it. You're the first person who has ever felt drawn to it, to me, I reckon that means maybe it was always meant to be yours."

She smiled at the thought of something belonging to her out of all the vast items in their vault, she could almost bet though that something here had called to Del as well, but she was fairly certain that if something had, it wouldn't be nearly as ordinary looking as her key. Her brother, like her mother, had a knack for all things fancy and flamboyant. If he had found anything in the vault to his liking, it would have to be big, shiny and very new looking. She and her father on the other hand, loved things with a more antique feel to it.

"Thank you very much father!" She exclaimed rapidly, "I absolutely love it."

The two of them smiled at each other while she put on the necklace and her father filled their pouch with money. They left the vault in good graces, ready to go shopping for all of her stuff. The ride in the cart back up to the surface floor was just as confusing as the ride down. Juni chatted with the goblin guard all the way back, not even bothering to keep track of where they were going.

They went through the stores one by one. She got her robes fitted at Madam Malkins. It didn't take long getting her robes, nor was there much conversation at the store. Her father paid and they went on their way.

They went on and got the rest of her school supplies except for her wand and her pet. She decided that she wanted to get an owl, since it would not only be pretty but it would also be useful in the long run.

"Father, I think I'd like an owl. It will be a lot more useful than a cat or a toad." She smiled at her logic.

He nodded in agreement and led her towards the emporium. When they went inside, she saw so many owls that she realized she had no idea what kind of owl she wanted. They looked around for about half an hour when Juni finally spotted her.

She was a normal barn owl, but Juni thought she was beautiful. She was hidden in the back of the shop behind some of the more exotic looking owls. She walked over to the owl, which hooted softly at her.

The shopkeeper walked over to them. "This owl has been here since she was born. She's very timid and very young, just barely an adult now. No one has ever really even given her a second look."

She looked over at her father and smiled. "I think I'd like this one father. She's very beautiful."

Her father paid the shopkeeper and they went on their way with her brand new owl. The owl hooted happily in her cage as they walked to the final store on her list. Ollivander's Wand shop wasn't a far walk from the emporium.

"You'll have to think of a name for her, you know?" Her father nonchalantly stated as he held the door to Ollivander's open for her.

She was about to respond when suddenly an old man appeared before her. She stared at him nervously, this was the one shop that she was excited and scared to be in. She was hoping that her wand wouldn't be anything too over the top.

"Ah, Mr. Breeze and Miss Breeze, welcome to my shop." He smiled at them. "So you're finally here for your wand? It's a simple process, I search for a wand and when I find one, I'll hand it to you. You'll wave the wand and we'll try until we finally find one for you." He started ruffling through the store.

"I think I'll name my owl Tawnie. I know she's a barn owl, but she almost looks like a Tawny owl to me." She whispered to her father so as to not disturb Mr. Ollivander.

Her father smiled and pointed over to where Mr. Ollivander was about to show up at.

Ollivander popped out from behind a shelf with a small stack of boxes. "Let's start with this one, it's seven and a half inches, made of willow with unicorn hair core." He held it out to her.

She took it and waved it, feeling very foolish while doing so. He snatched it away from her almost as soon as she started waving it.

"No, no. Let's try another." He rummaged some more. "This one is ten inches, made of ash with a dragon heart string core." He handed her another wand.

She waved this one and still nothing. More wands were passed between the two of them, all ending in the same manner. It seemed like this was going to take the rest of the day. Juni lost count of how many wands she had tried after the number reached around seventy, but they had been trying for at least an hour.

"It is very rare for a wand to choose the witch on the first try. Although, you're brother's wand choose him on the third try." Juni rolled her eyes at this but did not interrupt Mr. Ollivander. "No matter though, it doesn't mean anything by that except that you are harder to find the proper wand. There is one wand that I would like to try." He passed her another wand.

This one seemed different to Juni. It was light, springy and pleasantly colored. It was soft shades of pink, lighter at the tip and darker at the hilt. She thought it was very pretty, and even though pink is just a shade of red, she loved it immediately. She waved it and felt energy flow freely through her as if it were water. The air around her smelled of Earth and falling rain. She looked around her to see her father and Mr. Ollivander smiling at her. If she had to guess, she would guess that this meant that this wand had chosen her.

Mr. Ollivander clapped his hands. "Bravo Miss Breeze! This wand has a fairly interesting history." His voice began to sound as if he was lost in a memory, "It was some time ago, while I was traveling around the globe. I was searching for new woods from all over, anything that seemed extra magical. I was in Asia, around the region of Syria. I was wandering when suddenly I came upon this Juniper tree. It had branches that were close together, almost tangled within each other and then I saw it. It had this single branch that was not among the others, it was more outward, like it was reaching out to me to be taken. So I took this branch and I crafted one of the prettiest wands that I had ever made. The wand that I crafted from that Juniper tree is the wand you now hold in your hand. Nine and a half inches with the hair of a unicorn in it. When I saw that branch, I knew it wouldn't be like any of the other wands I had made and now that it has chosen you, I feel as if it all makes sense. You are different and unique, just like that wand, the only wand I have currently ever made out of Juniper."

Juni couldn't help but laugh, not that Mr. Ollivander's story was funny but it was simply just too ironic. She smiled at the old man. "Sorry, I don't mean to laugh. You're story wasn't funny. I just find it funny that you say every wand chooses it's own witch or wizard and here this wand does the same thing. Only it decides to choose me by name." Mr. Ollivander looked confused, "You know, it's a Juniper wand and I just so happen to be a Juniper myself. Kind of coincidental, don't you agree?"

Her father chuckled behind her and paid Mr. Ollivander. The old man looked at her sincerely and whispered, "I do not believe in coincidences. I believe this wand chose you for a reason. Juniper is known for being a tree of purity and healing, which I am sure will work with you in ways you haven't even begun to imagine."

They thanked Mr. Ollivander and went on their way. They were finished with all the school shopping, but neither of them were ready to go home just yet. Juni and her father decided to wander around Diagon Alley for a while longer, stopping in to see the things in all manner of shops. They looked at the brooms and discussed the Quidditch teams. Juni admitted to wishing she was old enough to play on one of the teams but decided she was willing enough to wait till she could try out.

After another hour of walking around, they decided to eat dinner at The Leaky Cauldron. Juni ordered beef stew while her father ordered a salad.

"You know father? I had a great day today, especially without mother and Del here." She smiled.

He smiled back, "You know what? So did I."

They laughed and chatted while they ate their food. After they were done with their meal, they reluctantly apparated home.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Luckily I've had this story going for a few months now, so I can update chapters much quicker... (sometimes all my writer's block is just other stories waiting to be written...) This chapter is about the wait before start of term as well as the ride on the Hogwarts Express. Reviews are most welcome, and please enjoy Juni's suffering (that ends up turning out fairly well.)

Chapter Three: Waiting for Doomsday

It was August and the heat was almost unbearable. Juni stayed outside as much as possible though, preferring to be out working in the garden with her father. Their birthday was coming up, hers and Del's. Not that she was particularly excited for it, all it meant was that she was going to be eleven and all that being eleven meant to her was that she was one more year closer to being able to leave her mother behind. It wasn't that she didn't love her mother, just that she didn't get along with her mother at all. She was dreading her birthday almost as much as she was dreading the first of September, the day she would be on the Hogwarts Express and on her way to school. Her birthday was tomorrow, the twelfth of August.

She wiped her brow on the back of her hand, the sweat was dripping but she felt good being in the garden. Del may not like to get dirty, but she loved every second of it. Her mother didn't understand why her father didn't just magically garden like most other witches and wizard but Juni knew, it was a matter of pride. She hoped that her Herbology classes would end up being as fun. She stayed in the garden for almost the entire day, only going inside when it was necessary.

She cleaned up before dinner, feeling sore but happy as she took a long shower. She dressed in her pajamas and went down to dinner with her family. Her mother frowned at her choice of clothes but said nothing. Her brother looked obviously disgusted as he sat in his chair dressed as if he was going to a fancy restaurant for dinner. Her father smiled at her and then looked down at himself, he was dressed in his pajamas as well.

Del cleared his throat loudly, "Well mother, since tomorrow is mine and Juniper's birthday, I was wondering what exactly will we be doing for the day?"

Mother looked pleased to have a distraction from her husband and daughter. "Well Edelweiss, what would you like to do for your birthday?"

Juni scoffed in lack of surprise, of course her mother would ask him what they should do for their birthday. "Well I personally don't want to do anything for our birthday mother. I'd like to work in the garden, same as any other day. I don't want any presents, cake or fuss." She smiled triumphantly as her mother and twin rolled their eyes.

Del laughed at his sister's idea of a birthday. "Mother, I would like to go to the movies, as well as the zoo. Maybe we could have a fancy lunch at that little cafe that you like." He smirked at his mother's approval.

"Rose," her father chimed in, "why don't you and Del go do his birthday idea while Juni and I stay here for hers? You know how you're always fussing about not getting enough quality time with Del, now would be your chance." He winked at Juni, both of them knowing full well that she spent almost all her time with Del.

Rose nodded in agreement as she served up dinner. Juni was grateful to her father for not telling her she had to have Del's day as well. Her father always seemed to be on her side just when she needed it. They all ate their dinner with little conversation and when it was over, Juni excused herself. She would rather go to bed early than be around watching her mother dote on her brother.

Her sleep was fairly pleasant, she even dreamed about being at school. In her dream, she made new friends and she didn't have to worry about her brother being around her all the time. The next thing she knew, her dream self was fidgeting with a small chest, her dream self got mad until she noticed there was a small keyhole about the same size as the key on her necklace. She was about to open the chest in her dream when a loud noise down the hall woke her up.

She cracked her eyes and saw sunlight coming in through her curtains. She groaned loudly. _Eleven years old now..._ She thought to herself as she got up and got dressed for the day. Thankfully, she wouldn't have to spend the day with her mother or brother. That made her smile, she just hoped they would be gone by the time she left her room.

She heard a loud pop from down the hall and guessed it was safe to go get breakfast. Her father was in the kitchen making bacon, eggs and biscuits. She breathed in heavily, this was food her mother would never cook for breakfast. Her mother was kind of a bit of a health nut, her father on the other hand, well, he felt that if you were willing to exercise, then it didn't matter what you ate.

"Good morning Juni. Breakfast?" He asked her, knowing she had hardly ate the night before.

She grinned widely. "I am starving. Bring on the good food." She sat down at the breakfast counter and waited.

Her father served her breakfast as well as some fresh orange juice, then he sat down next to her with his own plate of food. They munched on their meal in silence. Juni always loved her father's cooking more than her mother's, mainly because not only was it not bland but it also was a nice mix of healthy and unhealthy.

When they finished eating, Juni washed and dried all the dishes, something she never did willingly for her mother. When she was done with the chore, she tied her hair up in a tight ponytail and walked outside into the garden. They worked till noon and for lunch had some rapidly made sandwiches and bittersweet lemonade.

They quickly went back to work and Juni decided to mention to her father about her dream last night. "It was strange father, I was happy to be there and I didn't seem stressed out or anything."

Her father laughed, "I suppose that your dream is telling you not to worry about anything then. Maybe you should heed that then. However, I sense there is more to the dream, correct?"

She tensed up a little. "Well," she started off slowly, "there was this small chest that I had, it had a keyhole, one small enough to fit my key in."

"Did you try opening the chest?" He was genuinely curious about this part of the dream.

She shrugged, "I tried to, but when I was about to open the lid, something made a loud noise in the house and I woke up. I was slightly upset that I didn't get to see what was inside."

Her father shrugged with her. "Maybe you'll see this chest at school somewhere, then you can open it and then you can write me to tell me what was inside it." He tapped her on the nose and smiled.

She giggled and then they went back to work. They worked until it was dark outside. When they went in, Juni was surprised that her mother and brother were still not home. She wasn't too worried about them though as she took her shower and got ready for bed. She went back downstairs, too tired to eat dinner and kissed her father on the cheek before saying good night. She hoped that the rest of the wait until school started would go by fast, she was eager to be going for some odd reason.

When she woke up the next day, her mother and brother were home. Apparently last night they had decided to stay out as long as they could, which didn't bother her, since it gave her more time away from them. Her mother however had gone against her wishes and bought her a present.

"Since you didn't go with us, Del and I figured we would get you something special for your birthday." Her mother said sarcastically.

She opened up the gift and found a gold and red short cocktail dress. It was a nice cut of a dress, but was not something Juni would wear unless forced to. "Thanks mother... too bad I'll have no occasion to wear it." She was not even in the slightest upset about that.

Her mother smiled almost evilly, "Oh but Juniper, you do have an occasion to wear it. You can wear it when we take you to the train."

She closed the box and handed it back to her mother. "I am not wearing that, not even if you paid me. If it had been green or even silver, then I might have worn it, but I refuse to wear anything red and gold on my first day."

She walked outside and immediately went to work in the garden. _So much for the start of what I was hoping would be a good day._ She thought silently. The rest of the day went by fairly fast. She went to bed without eating and had a tiresome night.

The next nineteen days went by in such a blur that it almost seemed like she had gone to bed in the middle of August and suddenly woke up in September. She was thankful that it hadn't dragged on like she was fearing it would. She stepped out her door to go take a morning shower and stepped on the dress box her mother had left there the night before. She kicked the box down the stairs and went to take her shower.

When she was done showering, she went into her room to get dressed. She figured that maybe pissing her mother off would not be such a great idea, so she put on plain black jeans, a black long sleeved shirt and black knee-high Converse shoes. She left her hair down for the time being. She went down to breakfast and was met with anger from her mother at the doorway to the kitchen.

She shoved past her mother and made herself a piece of toast with butter and jam on it. She munched on her little meal when her father called her outside.

"Your mother is going to take Del to do some last minute primping for the train ride. I told her I would take you by myself, she seemed pleased by that. However, this is what I really called you out here for." He handed her a medium sized green velvet pouch that was full of money. "Just in case you need any money. If you end up needed more during the year, just write me and let me know. Also, I'm not sure you're going to want to come home during breaks, so in case I don't see you, I just wanted to say that I love you and I'm proud of you no matter what." He hugged her tight.

"I love you too father." She hugged him back. "And if I have a choice as to whether or not to come home for breaks, I probably won't, since we both know that Del will be coming home for them."

She heard a loud pop and knew that it meant her mother and brother were gone. She went upstairs to her room and finished packing her trunk. Luckily she didn't have to try and carry her trunk down the stairs, her father came up to see if she was done, so he carried her trunk and she carried Tawnie. They packed everything into the car and drove down to the King's Cross Station.

She was nervous, especially after her father told her the way onto the platform. She didn't know if she could go through to the platform without causing a scene but her father assured her that all first years are scared to go through and that it gets easier each time you do it. She trusted her father and held onto his hand. They walked through with no problems, she laughed quietly to herself and thought. _I wonder why exactly was I terrified to do that, it actually wasn't that bad._

Her father helped her get her trunk inside and they managed to find an empty section. She hugged her father tightly and he hugged her back.

"Be strong Juni and remember what I said, no matter what and no matter which house you end up in, I will always love you." He kissed her forehead and left the train.

She flopped down on the seat and sighed. _The worst is yet to come Juni... you still have to be sorted and won't that be just, oh so fun?_ She smiled weakly at her own little comment. She sat in the seat mindlessly fiddling with the key her father gave her when the door to her compartment opened up and three boys stepped inside.

"What are you doing here?" The smaller of the boys sneered. He had blonde hair that was slicked back and cruel gray eyes.

She smiled up at him, she thought he was actually kind of cute. "I'm sitting down, what does it look like?" She poured as much sarcasm into her comment as she could. _Too bad good looks don't make up for bad manners though._ She thought to herself.

The other two boys stared dumbly at each other, their thick bodies blocking the doorway. She could tell that the blonde was their leader.

"This is my compartment, so what are you doing here?" He asked her again.

"I don't see your name anywhere and I'm still just sitting here. Feel free to join me though, I don't take up that much room." She couldn't believe the nerve of this kid, he almost reminded her of her brother.

The boy sat down across from her, knowing he wouldn't win the battle. He snapped his fingers and his two goons sat down next to him.

She couldn't help but laugh at the sight, the blonde boy almost looked like he was being squashed between the other two. "I'm Juniper Breeze," she reached her hand out to offer to shake his, "but everyone calls me Juni."

The blonde gingerly shook her hand. "I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. These two are Crabbe and Goyle." He pointed to them so fast that she doubted she would ever remember which goon was which. "Wait," he paused, "Breeze? Isn't that the family of pure bloods with the long line of history as Gryffindors?"

She groaned and slouched into her seat, "Ugh... please, don't remind me of that." She noticed his surprise. "Don't get me wrong, being brave and chivalrous is nice and all, but it's not me. I'm just laid back. I want to have fun and be allowed to be me, not some cookie cutter copy. Besides, I cannot stand the color red or really any variation of it. The only red I have seemed to not mind is the pink colors on my wand" She smiled softly.

He raised his eyebrow slightly. "Cookie cutter copy? I take that to mean that you think all Gryffindors are the same?"

"Well, not all of them are the same, granted, my father is the only one I've met within my family who isn't the same as the rest. Besides, I just want people to see me as Juni, not just another Gryffindor. I want to be allowed to do things my way without people looking down on me. Mostly though, I just want to be liked and accepted for who I am not because of my family or anything like that." She had no idea why she was telling him so much, but she felt oddly comfortable talking to him.

She noticed that he was about to say something else when the door to the compartment opened up. Her brother poked his head in, stared at her with obvious repulsion. "Just thought you should know Juniper, but a boy named Harry Potter is on the train. He looks like he might be a future Gryffindor, maybe you should try sitting with someone like him and not your current company." He sneered and shut the door when he was finished talking.

"A friend of yours?" Malfoy grumbled, annoyed at the disturbance made all because of somebody named Harry Potter.

She looked just as irritated as he did, then she looked down at her feet while answering him. "Not really..." she paused, looking up at him slightly, "he's my twin brother. We're not identical though, as you could tell. He'll definitely end up in Gryffindor, he's exactly like my mother." She grimaced at the thought of her mother.

He smiled at her now. "I don't much care for my parents either. Mother practically smothers me and father seems as if he has not a care in the world. I might as well not have any parents. It makes it worse that I'm an only child."

She laughed, "If only I could be so lucky, but it worked out fairly well in my family. My brother and mother do their own things together while my father and I spend our time together. My father is not your typical Gryffindor, he's pretty mellow, I'm more like him than my mother." She beamed when speaking of her father.

The conversation went on without too many interruptions, mostly talking about family and friends or lack thereof in Juni's case. After what seemed like hours it finally was about time for them to put their uniforms on. Juni waltzed to the nearest restroom to change, she was fairly excited though now that she had made what she had hoped was her first friend at school.

She was still dreading the sorting though. Draco had told her how most of his family was in Slytherin house and that he wouldn't hold it against her if she ended up in Gryffindor house like the rest of her family. He also had told her that he would even still talk to her because of her distaste for the common Gryffindor.

She was thinking about Draco while she was changing, she even secretly wished that he would be sorted into Gryffindor since she was almost certain that was where the Sorting Hat was going to place her. She bumped into a girl with bushy brown hair on her way out of the restroom. She apologized quickly and ran back to her compartment where the others were waiting. They spent the last few minutes on the train in silence. Juni kept hoping that Draco was her friend. The train slowed down and then came to a stop. The three boys stood up sluggishly.

"Are you coming in with us Juni? Or would you prefer to wait for your brother?" Draco smiled and extended a hand towards her.

She reached up and grabbed his hand. "With you." And with that, they were off together. They filed out of the train together and when they got outside they heard a booming voice.

"Firs' years this way! Follow me firs' years!" The voice belonged to a large man, twice the size of a normal man.

Juni stared up at the man, feeling extremely insignificant. She felt something take hold of her hand, she looked down and was surprised to see Draco's hand entwining with hers again. He pulled her forward to follow the large man. They were heading towards a grand lake with hundreds of little boats in it.

"No more than four to a boat." The man shouted to all the students who were following behind him.

Juni climbed into the nearest boat with Draco, followed closely by his two goons Crabbe and Goyle.

"Everyone in? All right then... FORWARD!" The man bellowed when all the students were in the boats and all of them sailed forward along the black glistening surface of the lake.

She didn't know which way to look when all of a sudden a huge towering castle came into view. The castle was magnificent with all it's towers alight in the darkness. She had barely taken in the view when the boats headed towards a cave leading below the castle.

"Right now... everyone duck!" The voice called and everyone listened as they went into the cave, ducking out of the way of the stalactites.

The boats headed towards what seemed to be an underground harbor. The boats all docked and the students filed out, waiting for further instructions from the man.

"All right then, now, follow me firs' years!" He stated as he started walking up a passageway in the rock, following behind his lamplight, coming out onto the damp grass in the shadow of the castle.

They walked up a flight of stone steps and gathered around the huge, oak front door.

"Everyone here?" The man asked and then raised a gigantic fist to knock on the castle door three times.


End file.
